FCC Website Hobbled By Comment Trolls Incited By Comedian John Oliver 144
An anonymous reader writes "In a recent segment of his new HBO show, Last Week Tonight, comedian John Oliver delivered a commentary (video) on the current net neutrality debate. He ended the segment by calling on all internet comment trolls to take advantage of the FCC's open comments section on the topic. 'We need you to get out there and for once in your lives focus your indiscriminate rage in a useful direction,' he said. 'Seize your moment, my lovely trolls, turn on caps lock, and fly my pretties! Fly! Fly! Fly!' While the true impact of John Oliver's editorial cannot be confirmed, the FCC nevertheless tweeted shortly after it aired that its website was experiencing technical difficulties due to heavy traffic. They accept comments via email as well at openinternet@fcc.gov."
Re:They're not trolls (Score:2, Informative)
Uh, a good portion of the end of his rant was specifically targeted at trolls. They're angry and pissed at everything, so he's just trying to get them to channel their hatred.
Re:They're not trolls (Score:5, Informative)
I am not sure annoying FCC will get us closer to preserving NN; if anything trolling will provide them with a "look, they are all nuts!" cover to ignore all feedback.
Real Comments (Score:5, Informative)
I was able to load a few of the comments. I never saw one "trollie" comment. Here are some examples:
I want the internet to be regulated like any other utility. That is what it is - a
utility. Everyone in this day and age needs to have internet access. It is not a
question of IF they need it. Accessibility to the internet pervades all aspects of
life, and it will destroy innovation and creativity of small businesses to have to
pay non-standardized prices for their internet traffic. Stop pandering to the money,
and start pandering to the people - contrary to what the money thinks, the PEOPLE
are the ones you serve.
---
Members of the FCC,
Individuals granted the power to rule over such a critical technology, during
such a critical time in the development of our species. Create a respectable
legacy.
Regarding moving forward with regulations to maintain an ‘Open Internet’,
it is critical that ISPs are re-classified as Title ll public utility providers, so
that both consumers and innovators are guaranteed fair opportunity in the
foreseeable future, and ISPs are prevented from gradually creating an
innovation crushing, tiered network over the next few decades. Use the
power you have now to create a lasting change, for if the regulation is weak
in its foundation, with time it will collapse under the force of the corrupt
interest of multi-billion dollars companies’ lobbying efforts.
Thank You,
Laser Nite
MIT Class of 2017
---
I demand net neutrality. People deserve equal access to bandwidth regardless of how
much they can afford to pay. The internet is an integral communication and
educational tool in our society.
---
reclassify broadband internet as a title II common carrier telecommunications
service
I want the internet to be regulated like any other utility. That is what it is - a
utility. Everyone in this day and age needs to have internet access. It is not a
question of IF they need it. Accessibility to the internet pervades all aspects of
life, and it will destroy innovation and creativity of small businesses to have to
pay non-standardized prices for their internet traffic. Stop pandering to the money,
and start pandering to the people - contrary to what the money thinks, the PEOPLE
are the ones you serve.
---
Just like everything else in this country, it seems the internet is now going to be
owned by big corporations. They are to follow in the footsteps of BIG PHARMA and
BIG OIL. We, as Americans, think that we have a voice, that this is a democracy.
That may no longer be the case. I believe we have no voice. Our politicians, our
food, our choices are now owned by the big corporations. If we do not have net
neutrality, it will be the final nail in the coffin of democracy around the world
and the corporation will be the dictator.
Re:They're not trolls (Score:2, Informative)
He said nothing about trolls and the people trying to leave comments on the FCC website are not trolling - they're genuinely upset about what the FCC is trying to do to the Internet.
He made a joke about the low quality of the discourse found on the Internet, but did not call for trolls or advocate trolling.
I can only guess that the people giving you an insightful score are themselves trolling because John absolutely said what was quoted in the summary: "'Seize your moment, my lovely trolls, turn on caps lock, and fly my pretties! Fly! Fly! Fly!'"
Re:Huh? (Score:5, Informative)
Who is "John Oliver"?
Probably most famous for being one of Jon Stewart's Daily Show regular correspondants, and guest host while Stewart was off directing his movie.
Since then he's left the Daily Show to pursue his own thing; much like Stephen Colbert; and while not as famous as Colbert, he's very well known.
Re:They're not trolls (Score:5, Informative)
"That's right: the FCC is literally inviting comments at this address. And at this point, and I can't believe I'm about to do this, I would like to address the Internet commenters out there directly.
Good evening, monsters. This may be the moment you've spent your whole life training for. You've been out there ferociously commenting on dance videos of adorable three year-olds saying things like: 'Every child could dance like this little loser after 1 week of practice.' Or you've been polluting Frozen's Let It Go with comments like: 'ice castle would giver her hypothermia and she dead in an hour.' Or, and I know you've done this one, commenting on a video on this show [Last Week Tonight] saying 'Fuck this asshole anchor . . . go suck ur presidents dick . . . ur just friends with the terrorists xD.'
Now, I don't know what any of that means but I don't think it's a compliment. But this was the moment you were made for, commenters. Like Ralph Macchio, you've been honing your skills. Waxing cars and painting fences. Well guess what? Now it's time to do some fucking Karate.
For once in your life, we need you to channel that anger, that badly spelled vile that you normally reserve for unforgivable attacks on actresses that you seem to think have put on weight. Or politicians that you disagree with. Or photos of your ex-girlfriend getting on with her life. Or non-white actors being cast as fictional characters. And I'm talking to you, RonPaulFan2016. And you, OneDirectionForever. And I'm talking to you, OneDirectionSucksBalls.
We need you to get out there and, for once in your life, focus your indiscriminate range in a useful direction. Seize your moment, my lovely trolls, turn on caps lock, and fly my pretties! Fly! Fly! Fly!"
Re:They're not trolls (Score:0, Informative)
Your fucking obtuse.
Re:They're not trolls (Score:5, Informative)
My understanding of "troll" is "someone who posts content specifically to entice a response", be that response anger, confusion, etc. Likewise, a "troll" post is that content.
A "flamebait", another moderation option, is a post written specificaly to entice a flame response. In my understanding, this is merely a subset of a "troll", albeit usually one focused on known sensitive topics like race, gender, or religion.
Meanwhile, there's no moderation for actual "flame" posts - i.e. those posts written by people angry and pissed at everything for real, not just pretending to be to elicit responses. So these usually get moderated as trolls or flamebait or just overrated, whatever feels right at the time. I wish they would replace "flamebait" with "flame" and let moderators adjust accordingly.
Anyway, that's why I think mods use "troll" for angry and pissed-off posts; slashdot fails to provide a correct mod for that scenario, moderators often feel that "1" or "2" is overrated for those posts, yet "overrated" is too bland for general use beyond correction of inaccurate moderation (i.e. something moderated "informative" that is factually incorrect).